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Last Sunday was the Ontario Military Vehicles Association swap meet in
Toronto. I had been looking forward to it for a while, so a knockout
dose of the flu was not going to stop me going. After taking my daughter
swimming in Ottawa in the morning I packed up my Land Rover 110 and
headed for hog town. I was to stay with long time Land Rover friend
David Lowe, he has a Land Rover 101" FC and a lightweight among his
fleet. We met at his Pickering home and passed the evening in the pub
swapping tales and drinking ales. Turns out David has some MV parts that
I might want, and something for the Abbott at the Oshawa home of the
Ferret club.
Up early on the Sunday saw me at Mickey Dees for breaky and off to the
Stephen Leacock Community Centre for 7 am in anticipation of an 8 am
opening. It wasn't long before the fric and frac team of OMVA poobaas
Eric Booth and Frank Von Rosensteel turned up in their ex cop cars, very
twee guys!!! I soon made a purchase from one of the other vendors as
they set up, hey the early bird gets the worm. I met some fellow listers
and showed the pictures of my Ferret to those who were interested. It
was good to meet another Ferret owner who I was not aware of. I also
bumped into long time Land Rover owner Derek Hammond who has now become
the owner of an ex military 88" 24 volt Fitted For Radio (FFR) Land
Rover.
At the show I was hoping to meet anyone from the Ontario Regiment's
Ferret club at Oshawa. I was figuring I might pop in on the way back to
Ottawa if I could make it all happen. I was fortunate to meet a couple
of people from there, one of whom was Mr Lee and another was John I
think, sorry not good on some names or their spelling sometimes.
After a brief chat we arranged to leave the show and drive out to
Oshawa and see the museum and the ever increasing collection of vehicles
they have. For those of you who do not know anything about the Ferret
Club I'll fill in some of the details and tell you a little of the
organization. The Ontario Regiment is a militia (reserve) unit of the
Canadian Forces, as such, being a part of the military system helps its
existence in ways only the military family can understand.
Back In 1980 a deal was struck to purchase 9 Ferrets from the Canadian
Forces surplus fleet. The price was a cool $1,000 a piece plus $1,000
for the delivery of the lot a total of $10,000. As I understand it this
money was raised privately from serving or ex officers of the Regiment.
It was intended that they would be used as a Guidon party for the
regiment. From then to now I am unfamiliar with the history of the
collection except to say that it has grown by leaps and bounds. By using
volunteer labour and donations and good connections and shrewd
judgements the amount of heavy metal is stunning.
I parked in the car park and could see the compound behind the hangar
and was blown away. I was lead inside and was dumbstruck to see the
number of very well maintained vehicles cheek by jowl with each other.
Jeeps, M38A1 review vehicle, 5 ton cargo with winch, sherman tank,
Ferret, Universal Carrier, the list goes on. As we threaded between the
vehicles I was given a narration as to how these various vehicles came
into their possession and the work need to put them back together,
phenomenal, just one typical case in point is an M151 Mutt recently
arrived in the fall from the Parachute training Centre down the road at
CFB Trenton. By coincidence I personally had seen this vehicle on a
pallet ready to be dropped last year while I visited the Trenton air
show. I had thought it interesting that it was still being used as a
load for the riggers on the courses run at Trenton, as this vehicle has
long ago left the CF inventory. According to my guides the Mutt was
badly twisted after it s life as a load for the riggers. Seeing it now
in their paint shop awaiting the engine and other parts after its paint
job it looks great, a testament to the skills of the volunteers and
contacts that they have. This vehicle will join a very large list of
RUNNING examples stored away for the winter.
To give you an idea, they have four M113's all run I think, numerous
Lynxes ( the baby 113 C & R vehicle), two running sheridans, two running
M60's, a chaffee, the sherman, five 5 ton wreckers, cucv, it goes on and
on. In the yard being worked on is a Centurion, watch for that puppy
when it runs!! They own an Abbott and either have or are getting a 432
soon. I was able to see a number of their Ferrets and piles or parts
they have as spares, shelf after shelf of bits all over.
We then sat down and chatted for a while, it turns out they are planning
to have a big shindig this summer. It will likely happen at their swap
meet and fun day. They are looking for a many vehicles to participate as
can attend. I for one am now working on ways to get my Ferret down to
join in the fun.
After leaving Oshawa and a quick stop back at Dave's place I was off
towards Ottawa, but with a planned stop in Brockville to see another ex
military Land Rover, a cousin to my own, this time a Land Rover 90 hard
top.
Brian had picked two of them up in the UK and one had sold and this one
is still for sale.
It was dark when I rolled into Brian's place, but like a pair of kids we
decided to test drive each others trucks with the other as a passenger,
it was neat, the 110 and 90 in military guise are rare in Canada in
private hands. My vehicle is alot more jaded than his 90, mine having
come from the British Army Training Unit Suffield (Alberta) and his
looks as if it was ex military police. What a blast, we compared notes
and exchanged observations before I said good bye and got back on the
road for home, finally getting in at midnight.
What a great time I had had, and so many great people, and so much
military equipment, all in one weekend!!
If you are in the Toronto area over the summer be sure to look in on
the Ferret Club at the Oshawa airport, well worth the visit.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Tue Apr 04 2000 - 21:57:04 PDT